2nd Lieutenant Graham COOK (93633)
140th Field Regiment (5th London) Royal Artillery

Date of birth: 14th June 1914
Date of death: 30th May 1940

Died of wounds aged 25
Buried at Hotton War Cemetery near Liege Plot X Row B Grave 10
He was born at Barnet on the 14th of June 1914 the son of William Cook and Ethel May (nee King).

He was educated at the Junior King's School from May 1923 and at the King's School Canterbury to July 1931 where he served as a Lance Corporal in the Officer Training Corps.

On leaving school he trained as a quantity surveyor and enlisted as a Gunner in the Honourable Artillery Company in 1933 where he served in A Battery and rose to the rank of Lance Bombardier. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery (Territorial Army) on the 19th of June 1939.

He was married in the summer of 1939 to Margaret Agnes (nee Jones) of Golders Green.

The 140th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery consisted of 366 and 367 Batteries and was equipped with 18 pounder guns. They embarked for overseas service at Southampton on the 8th of March 1940 and landed at Le Havre the following day from where they proceeded to Bapaume. On the 10th of May 1940 the regiment was in training at Toutencourt when the Germans invaded France and the Low Countries. They crossed the border with Belgium at 1am on the morning of the 11th of May and took part in their first action at Wannehain on the River Escault on the evening of the 14th of May. They suffered several casualties during the engagement losing three guns from 366 Battery to shell fire.

By the end of May they were fighting a rear guard action at the hilltop village of Cassel which had been surrounded by the advancing Germans. At 6pm on the evening of the 27th of May the Germans sent tanks forward to finish the battle, but in spite of losing five of their number to the guns of the 140th they forced their way into the village. The enemy infantry fought their way into the regiment's command post and destroyed the radios before they were forced out by the gunners.

With most of the British infantry gone the gunners placed their remaining guns in an all round defence. On the 29th of May they received orders from Brigade to destroy their remaining guns and equipment. They were ordered by their Commanding Officer to hold on until darkness fell and then destroy the equipment before making their way to the coast individually. Shortly before destroying the remaining guns they used one gun to engage enemy mortar positions over open sights losing two more men during this action.

When darkness finally fell the guns were destroyed and the survivors set off to make good their escape. By the 30th of May almost half of them had been killed or captured but fourteen officers and two hundred and eighty seven men made it back to England to reform the regiment.

Graham Cook was wounded and captured during the fighting and died of his wounds as a prisoner of war. He is buried some two hundred and fifty kilometres from Cassel.
The Grange

Back